Monday, July 25, 2016

Earnings Beat Goes On

After a slow start for the week, the S&P 500 gained 0.6% while the Nasdaq Composite gained 1.4% and the Dow Jones increased by .3%.  As you would expect, quarterly earnings were a big factor in driving the markets this week - more results will be released in coming weeks with 75% of S&P 500 members still due to report their earnings. Thus far, this earnings season has delivered some good surprises.

One company with a great earnings report was Johnson & Johnson (JNJ).  The company beat both revenue and earnings estimates for the quarter, helping the momentum in U.S. stocks and the healthcare industry. For the quarter, their revenue was $18.48 billion, beating analysts average estimate by $500 million. Earnings for the second quarter were $1.74, 6 cents more than the analysts predicted.

With their great earnings report, ETFs that have a exposure to Johnson and Johnson also lead the way this week. The 2 ETFs that have the biggest exposure to Johnson & Johnson, XLV, Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund, and CURE, Direxion Daily HealthCare, gained 2% and 4% respectively this week.

Global equities seemed to also do surprisingly well this week despite so many international issues and turbulence including the attempted coup in Turkey, the potential for change in monetary policy from the Bank of Japan next week and the European Central Bank keeping all of its interest rates unchanged on Thursday, adding that it expects rates to remain at present or lower levels for an extended period.

In ETF news, SEC moved to expedite the approval of exchange-traded funds run by human stock and bond pickers. This could lead to even larger and faster growth of the already growing ETF industry. The SEC on Friday approved guidelines for actively managed ETFs, which aim to cut months off the process of bringing these funds to market.

This week BWV, HOMX, PGX, and DIVC were are top 4 of biggest gains in our Quant movers section.  Each fund’s quant score increased by 16%, 12%, 12%, and 10% respectively. Our biggest losers this week were IEV, BDCS, MLPG, MLPI. Each fund lost 12%, 10%, 10%, and 9% respectively.

This week was another steady week for our select list. However, there was 1 unranked funds from last week that made it to the top spot in their category, and a number 5 ranked fund that made it to number 1. They were EWU in the European region, and XES, in the energy sector.

Thank you for reading ETF Global Perspectives!

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_____________________________________________________________
Assumptions, opinions and estimates constitute our judgment as of the date of this material and are subject to change without notice.  ETF Global LLC (“ETFG”) and its affiliates and any third-party providers, as well as their directors, officers, shareholders, employees or agents (collectively ETFG Parties) do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, adequacy or timeliness of any information, including ratings and rankings and are not responsible for errors and omissions or for the results obtained from the use of such information and ETFG Parties shall have no liability for any errors, omissions, or interruptions therein, regardless of the cause, or for the results obtained from the use of such information. ETFG PARTIES DISCLAIM ANY AND ALL EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, SUITABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR USE.  In no event shall ETFG Parties be liable to any party for any direct, indirect, incidental, exemplary, compensatory, punitive, special or consequential damages, costs, expenses, legal fees, or losses (including, without limitation, lost income or lost profits and opportunity costs) in connection with any use of the information contained in this document even if advised of the possibility of such damages.

ETFG ratings and rankings are statements of opinion as of the date they are expressed and not statements of fact or recommendations to purchase, hold, or sell any securities or to make any investment decisions. ETFG ratings and rankings should not be relied on when making any investment or other business decision.  ETFG’s opinions and analyses do not address the suitability of any security.  ETFG does not act as a fiduciary or an investment advisor.  While ETFG has obtained information from sources they believe to be reliable, ETFG does not perform an audit or undertake any duty of due diligence or independent verification of any information it receives.


This material is not intended as an offer or solicitation for the purchase or sale of any security or other financial instrument. Securities, financial instruments or strategies mentioned herein may not be suitable for all investors.  Any opinions expressed herein are given in good faith, are subject to change without notice, and are only correct as of the stated date of their issue.  Prices, values, or income from any securities or investments mentioned in this report may fall against the interests of the investor and the investor may get back less than the amount invested.  Where an investment is described as being likely to yield income, please note that the amount of income that the investor will receive from such an investment may fluctuate.  Where an investment or security is denominated in a different currency to the investor's currency of reference, changes in rates of exchange may have an adverse effect on the value, price or income of or from that investment to the investor.

Thursday, July 21, 2016

Save-the-Date: November 29, 2016 - Fall 2016 ETP Forum-NYC




FALL 2016 ETP FORUM - NYC

Please save the date – Tuesday, November 29th 2016!

ETF Global is excited to partner once again with The Expert Series to Chair the upcoming Fall 2016 ETP Forum – NYC on Tuesday, November 29th at The New York Athletic Club!

Now in its 5th Year, this one-day symposium convenes some of the most widely recognized experts in Exchange-Traded-Funds and the brightest minds in Capital Management.  The ETP Forum features renowned speakers addressing cutting-edge topics within a vibrant and intimate learning atmosphere.

Video footage from the most recent ETP Forum is available on Expert Series TV at Expert Series TV

All information will be available on the event site at www.etpforum.org and in the interim please save the date for 11/29/16.

We look forward to seeing you there!


Thank you for reading ETF Global Perspectives!

ETFG 21 Day Free Trialhttps://www.etfg.com/signup/quick

______________________________________________________________
Assumptions, opinions and estimates constitute our judgment as of the date of this material and are subject to change without notice.  ETF Global LLC (“ETFG”) and its affiliates and any third-party providers, as well as their directors, officers, shareholders, employees or agents (collectively ETFG Parties) do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, adequacy or timeliness of any information, including ratings and rankings and are not responsible for errors and omissions or for the results obtained from the use of such information and ETFG Parties shall have no liability for any errors, omissions, or interruptions therein, regardless of the cause, or for the results obtained from the use of such information. ETFG PARTIES DISCLAIM ANY AND ALL EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, SUITABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR USE.  In no event shall ETFG Parties be liable to any party for any direct, indirect, incidental, exemplary, compensatory, punitive, special or consequential damages, costs, expenses, legal fees, or losses (including, without limitation, lost income or lost profits and opportunity costs) in connection with any use of the information contained in this document even if advised of the possibility of such damages.

ETFG ratings and rankings are statements of opinion as of the date they are expressed and not statements of fact or recommendations to purchase, hold, or sell any securities or to make any investment decisions. ETFG ratings and rankings should not be relied on when making any investment or other business decision.  ETFG’s opinions and analyses do not address the suitability of any security.  ETFG does not act as a fiduciary or an investment advisor.  While ETFG has obtained information from sources they believe to be reliable, ETFG does not perform an audit or undertake any duty of due diligence or independent verification of any information it receives.


This material is not intended as an offer or solicitation for the purchase or sale of any security or other financial instrument. Securities, financial instruments or strategies mentioned herein may not be suitable for all investors.  Any opinions expressed herein are given in good faith, are subject to change without notice, and are only correct as of the stated date of their issue.  Prices, values, or income from any securities or investments mentioned in this report may fall against the interests of the investor and the investor may get back less than the amount invested.  Where an investment is described as being likely to yield income, please note that the amount of income that the investor will receive from such an investment may fluctuate.  Where an investment or security is denominated in a different currency to the investor's currency of reference, changes in rates of exchange may have an adverse effect on the value, price or income of or from that investment to the investor.

Monday, July 18, 2016

Sticking to Our Knitting

After covering the markets for so many years, it nevertheless continues to amaze me as to how much the world can have occurring of epic, historic and and unfortunately tragic proportions and how the markets can absorb it all with a comprehensive, net impact. Despite the world reeling from the tragedy in France, continued violence on domestic soil – our thoughts and prayers continue for the victims and their families in Dallas and now Baton Rouge, this week's powder keg of a Republican National Convention and the uprising in Turkey, overall the markets are coming off another very good week. The S&P 500 is up roughly 8% since the Brexit fallout and up 1.5% this past week alone. The Dow Jones Industrials gained a bit over 2%. Naturally, there is no shortage of events coming up this week to watch and see how the markets will respond.

Perhaps times like this with so much going on require that we embrace the old saying of "stick to your knitting."  We therefore focus on what we can control like making sure we are utilizing the many tools and analyses at our disposal.

ETFG Quant Movers - This week we find TUSA, HEZU, HEWJ, and IEUS in the top 4 of biggest gains in our Quant movers section.  All 4 funds increased their ETFG Quant score by 10% this week and all of these ETFs are broad equity developed markets.

Weekly Select List - Although our Weekly Select List remained pretty stable from last week to this week. We had a few new ETFs entering the top 5 of their respective categories. This week CARZ is our number 3 rated Industrials ETF, and our number 2 rated Global Region ETF. Another big mover in our Select List was XOP which was not even in the top 5 last week in any category to being number one in the energy sector and number 3 in the North American region.

For more information on our ratings and biggest changes, be sure to check out the weekly Quant Mover Section for Gainers and Losers as well as our Weekly Select List.

On the lighter side, Nintendo has taken the world by storm. For those who are not familiar, on July 6, 2016 they released an app called Pokémon Go. The game allows players to capture, battle, and train virtual creatures, called Pokémon, who appear on device screens as though in the real world. In just a little over a week the game has over 21 million active users all over the world. With the launch of Pokémon Go, Nintendo stock is up around 20% this week.  Looking at our ETF Exposure report we can see that Nintendo is owned by 46 different ETFs.  The biggest owner of Nintendo is GAMR, Purefunds Video Game Tech ETF.  5.41% of the ETF is allocated to Nintendo Stock. It comes as no surprise that since the launch of Pokémon Go the ETF is up over 4%. The second biggest holder of Nintendo is IPK, S&P International Technology Sector ETF, 1.94% of their portfolio is in Nintendo. Like with GAMR since the inception of Pokémon Go, they have had great returns, roughly 10.3%

Thank you for reading ETF Global Perspectives!

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_____________________________________________________________
Assumptions, opinions and estimates constitute our judgment as of the date of this material and are subject to change without notice.  ETF Global LLC (“ETFG”) and its affiliates and any third-party providers, as well as their directors, officers, shareholders, employees or agents (collectively ETFG Parties) do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, adequacy or timeliness of any information, including ratings and rankings and are not responsible for errors and omissions or for the results obtained from the use of such information and ETFG Parties shall have no liability for any errors, omissions, or interruptions therein, regardless of the cause, or for the results obtained from the use of such information. ETFG PARTIES DISCLAIM ANY AND ALL EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, SUITABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR USE.  In no event shall ETFG Parties be liable to any party for any direct, indirect, incidental, exemplary, compensatory, punitive, special or consequential damages, costs, expenses, legal fees, or losses (including, without limitation, lost income or lost profits and opportunity costs) in connection with any use of the information contained in this document even if advised of the possibility of such damages.

ETFG ratings and rankings are statements of opinion as of the date they are expressed and not statements of fact or recommendations to purchase, hold, or sell any securities or to make any investment decisions. ETFG ratings and rankings should not be relied on when making any investment or other business decision.  ETFG’s opinions and analyses do not address the suitability of any security.  ETFG does not act as a fiduciary or an investment advisor.  While ETFG has obtained information from sources they believe to be reliable, ETFG does not perform an audit or undertake any duty of due diligence or independent verification of any information it receives.

This material is not intended as an offer or solicitation for the purchase or sale of any security or other financial instrument. Securities, financial instruments or strategies mentioned herein may not be suitable for all investors.  Any opinions expressed herein are given in good faith, are subject to change without notice, and are only correct as of the stated date of their issue.  Prices, values, or income from any securities or investments mentioned in this report may fall against the interests of the investor and the investor may get back less than the amount invested.  Where an investment is described as being likely to yield income, please note that the amount of income that the investor will receive from such an investment may fluctuate.  Where an investment or security is denominated in a different currency to the investor's currency of reference, changes in rates of exchange may have an adverse effect on the value, price or income of or from that investment to the investor.

Sunday, July 10, 2016

So Much So Fast

“There are decades where nothing happens, and there are weeks where decades happen.”  – Vladimir Lenin

In the US, financial news continued to chatter on what’s next for Brexit, new rate lows on the 10-Year Treasury and the entire yield curve for Switzerland moving into negative territory.  Indeed since the surprise referendum results last month, there is no end of bad news out there ranging from globalization, immigration, robotic automation replacing more of the labor force, etc. These have become the de facto topics of conversation of investors worldwide.  If Lenin were alive, he would likely observe that the occurrences of these past four weeks have felt like the culmination of decades.

US Equity Markets continued their upward move, looking past the sharp Brexit correction and embracing a more positive tone set by the payroll report, with most major indexes gaining over 1% and small caps leading the charge.  Despite its largely ignored Annual Report issued by the Bank of International Settlements at the end of June which paints a rather dismal picture of the state of affairs, markets were generally calm worldwide. The US Yield curve continued to flatten as yield-starved investors rushed to purchase Treasuries and Corporates. The 10 Year Treasury hit 1.38% - a low not seen for decades!  Precious metals lead by Silver and Gold continued to climb and hopes of a China recovery lifted other commodity prices. Foreign markets largely drifted down for the week as measured in both local and USD returns.

We found some very interesting upward moves in our Quant Model scoring last week - SGDJ, SGDM, XME, REMX and SLX dominate the top positions in Basic Materials our Equity Select List. Biotechs rate high on our Reward Ratings. MLP and Emerging Markets jumped significantly in our Quant Mover Scoring System with YMLP, IMLP moving up. Strategic Beta Strategy funds like BTAL, QVM, and FEM moved up 18% or more last week.  Dividend funds like SDIV and EDIV are up in value as well. Some select tech funds like HACK and IGV are also becoming more attractive according to our model. Interestingly, a number of emerging market ETFs, which had been beaten up, are showing up on the list including Russia (RSXJ) and Latin America (EEML) – probably on anticipation of a recovery in commodities. High Quality Fixed Income Funds continue to attract investor assets despite potential interest rate risk.  For some interesting musings, be sure to check out the weekly Quant Mover Section for Gainers and Losers.

Although things seemed to have settled a bit in our ratings this week, one would be ill-advised to take the summer off as volatility is likely to return due to an unexpected turn in any news headline. Indeed Lenin’s observation may prove to be prophetic this summer.

Thank you for reading ETF Global Perspectives!

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_____________________________________________________________
Assumptions, opinions and estimates constitute our judgment as of the date of this material and are subject to change without notice.  ETF Global LLC (“ETFG”) and its affiliates and any third-party providers, as well as their directors, officers, shareholders, employees or agents (collectively ETFG Parties) do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, adequacy or timeliness of any information, including ratings and rankings and are not responsible for errors and omissions or for the results obtained from the use of such information and ETFG Parties shall have no liability for any errors, omissions, or interruptions therein, regardless of the cause, or for the results obtained from the use of such information. ETFG PARTIES DISCLAIM ANY AND ALL EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, SUITABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR USE.  In no event shall ETFG Parties be liable to any party for any direct, indirect, incidental, exemplary, compensatory, punitive, special or consequential damages, costs, expenses, legal fees, or losses (including, without limitation, lost income or lost profits and opportunity costs) in connection with any use of the information contained in this document even if advised of the possibility of such damages.

ETFG ratings and rankings are statements of opinion as of the date they are expressed and not statements of fact or recommendations to purchase, hold, or sell any securities or to make any investment decisions. ETFG ratings and rankings should not be relied on when making any investment or other business decision.  ETFG’s opinions and analyses do not address the suitability of any security.  ETFG does not act as a fiduciary or an investment advisor.  While ETFG has obtained information from sources they believe to be reliable, ETFG does not perform an audit or undertake any duty of due diligence or independent verification of any information it receives.

This material is not intended as an offer or solicitation for the purchase or sale of any security or other financial instrument. Securities, financial instruments or strategies mentioned herein may not be suitable for all investors.  Any opinions expressed herein are given in good faith, are subject to change without notice, and are only correct as of the stated date of their issue.  Prices, values, or income from any securities or investments mentioned in this report may fall against the interests of the investor and the investor may get back less than the amount invested.  Where an investment is described as being likely to yield income, please note that the amount of income that the investor will receive from such an investment may fluctuate.  Where an investment or security is denominated in a different currency to the investor's currency of reference, changes in rates of exchange may have an adverse effect on the value, price or income of or from that investment to the investor.

Tuesday, July 5, 2016

"May We Live in Interesting Times"

The iconic essay “The End of History,” authored by Francis Fukuyama in 1989, celebrated the triumph of liberal democracy, markets and globalization and seemed to capture the moment of the Fall of the Berlin Wall but now may prove to be short-lived. A mere 27 years later investors find themselves facing increased market volatility along with increasing frequency of “tail” occurrences (previously thought to be too remote to merit attention), largely driven by socio-political forces, headline news, negative interest rates, unprecedented experiments in monetary expansion, asset bubbles driven by credit expansion, deflationary winds and the most significant of all, the questioning of the ideological tenets of unrestrained free-markets and globalization.

US Markets had a roller coaster week with the continuing fallout from the BREXIT referendum followed by a near recovery by the end of the week showing the resilience of US Equity Markets. Nevertheless, our Global Fund Flow Summary indicates that investors pulled money out of all asset classes except Fixed Income the past week.  As the economy and markets adjust to the consequences of BREXIT and a plummeting pound, the short term possibility of a recession will continue to exist in the UK. Japan continues to fight a surging yen on its way to 100/1 USD and with that, renewed deflationary winds.  The fear of further “exit” referendums in the EU, continued mass migration flows from chaotic regions near the EU and bolder terrorist attacks are likely to feed investors fear and thus volatility in the markets going forward.  Commodities and energy are likely to continue to be subject to economic reports.  Alternatively, Precious Metals continue their upward march.   Both SGDJ and SGDM dominate the top positions in Basic Materials our Equity Select List.  SGDM moved up significantly in our Behavioral Quant Model.

Reviewing this week’s Select List and Quant Movers, quality Asian ETFs like EWY and FXI and in Europe, EWG and FEZ all score an attractive 66 or more in our Quant Score model.  Dividend strategies like MOAT and infrastructure strategies like EMLP, EMIF, EEM and core quality positions like IEFA are also attractive.  In the US, IYT and IVOV score high as well in our Quant Model.  High Quality Fixed Income Funds continue to attract investor assets despite potential interest rate risk.

Potential beneficiaries of these trends are likely to be ETFs, tactical asset management and potentially nimble active managers. Periods of heightened volatility have traditionally increased volume in ETFs. In Europe alone according to The Financial Times, demand for iShare products surged over 3x normal in USD terms.

Long-term investors favoring traditional asset allocation strategies are likely to be penalized in this type of news and event-driven market.  Fortunately for investors, the ETP marketplace has evolved to offer investors over 1,900 US listed products.  There is virtually an ETP to offer investors exposure or protection to almost any plausible investment scenario.  Subscribers to ETF Global can use the ETF Screener to identify those vehicles.  The success to date of State Capitalist powers like China and Russia as well as ideological challenges from Islamic Fundamentalism assures us that we are nowhere near realizing Fukuyama’s observation.

Thank you for reading ETF Global Perspectives!

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_____________________________________________________________
Assumptions, opinions and estimates constitute our judgment as of the date of this material and are subject to change without notice.  ETF Global LLC (“ETFG”) and its affiliates and any third-party providers, as well as their directors, officers, shareholders, employees or agents (collectively ETFG Parties) do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, adequacy or timeliness of any information, including ratings and rankings and are not responsible for errors and omissions or for the results obtained from the use of such information and ETFG Parties shall have no liability for any errors, omissions, or interruptions therein, regardless of the cause, or for the results obtained from the use of such information. ETFG PARTIES DISCLAIM ANY AND ALL EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, SUITABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR USE.  In no event shall ETFG Parties be liable to any party for any direct, indirect, incidental, exemplary, compensatory, punitive, special or consequential damages, costs, expenses, legal fees, or losses (including, without limitation, lost income or lost profits and opportunity costs) in connection with any use of the information contained in this document even if advised of the possibility of such damages.

ETFG ratings and rankings are statements of opinion as of the date they are expressed and not statements of fact or recommendations to purchase, hold, or sell any securities or to make any investment decisions. ETFG ratings and rankings should not be relied on when making any investment or other business decision.  ETFG’s opinions and analyses do not address the suitability of any security.  ETFG does not act as a fiduciary or an investment advisor.  While ETFG has obtained information from sources they believe to be reliable, ETFG does not perform an audit or undertake any duty of due diligence or independent verification of any information it receives.

This material is not intended as an offer or solicitation for the purchase or sale of any security or other financial instrument. Securities, financial instruments or strategies mentioned herein may not be suitable for all investors.  Any opinions expressed herein are given in good faith, are subject to change without notice, and are only correct as of the stated date of their issue.  Prices, values, or income from any securities or investments mentioned in this report may fall against the interests of the investor and the investor may get back less than the amount invested.  Where an investment is described as being likely to yield income, please note that the amount of income that the investor will receive from such an investment may fluctuate.  Where an investment or security is denominated in a different currency to the investor's currency of reference, changes in rates of exchange may have an adverse effect on the value, price or income of or from that investment to the investor.